French refuse to vote on party line
Number of French voters who refuse to identify themselves as left-wing, centre or right-wing is rising
THE number of French voters who refuse to identify themselves as left-wing, centre or right-wing is rising.
A poll for France-Soir found 33 per cent (up four per cent on 2007) would not place themselves on the traditional political spectrum. Within this 33 per cent, 51 per cent claimed to be ecologists and 28 per cent said they would vote for the Front National.
Those who do not identify with political parties tend to be young (under 35) and workers, according to the poll.
The findings shake up beliefs about the political leanings of party supporters.
Among supporters of the Europe Ecologie party (which made huge gains in France’s last European election), only 23 per cent say they are left-wing. About 16 per cent of National Front supporters place themselves on the left of the political scale, despite the way they cast their vote.
Nearly 1,000 people representative of the French population were interviewed for the poll. It found that 29 per cent of French said they were left-wing (of this, four per cent very left-wing). Fifteen per cent classed themselves as centre and 22 per cent right (of this, three per cent very right-wing.)
